[Thinkpad] Power tips?

[Phil Smith III]

I just bought two of these:

Lenovo 41R4493 90W Ultraslim AC/DC Combo Adapter

https://www.ebay.com/itm/182846116226

on eBay. I actually thought I was replacing my 41R0139 brick, which has
started to hum a bit. These are nicer: smaller yet the same output, and come
with several cords, including a Y-cord that adds a USB power outlet. If you
travel with your ThinkPad, you might like this unit. And it sure was cheap
($13 plus very reasonable shipping), sealed new in a box.



It predates the square power tips. I have adapters, but it came with a
leaflet touting www.lenovopowertips.com <http://www.lenovopowertips.com> ,
and I thought "Maybe they have one!" so I visited it:

HTTP Error 404. The requested resource is not found.

So there's a server there, just not the one that's supposed to be. Searching
the Lenovo site was fruitless (I swear, web designers seem to deliberately
make site search useless in a lot of cases!). Anyone got any idea whether
they ever made a square tip for this item? The one I bought was released in
2009 and withdrawn in 2014 (and my original one is even older), so they may
not have, but it would be nice to remove one of the links from the chain.
Having a part number for the tip would of course be ideal.

[David Ross]

We have one of these (it was even cheaper on Amazon, and free shipping, though they're gone now; I wish I'd bought more than one).

For tip part numbers, you might start with the wayback machine, eg http://web.archive.org/web/20131005081030/http://www.lenovopowertips.com:80/Catalog.aspx?CID=1

David R.

Post by Phil Smith III
Lenovo 41R4493 90W Ultraslim AC/DC Combo Adapter
https://www.ebay.com/itm/182846116226
on eBay. I actually thought I was replacing my 41R0139 brick, which
has started to hum a bit. These are nicer: smaller yet the same
output, and come with several cords, including a Y-cord that adds a
USB power outlet. If you travel with your ThinkPad, you might like
this unit. And it sure was cheap ($13 plus very reasonable shipping), sealed new in a box.
It predates the square power tips. I have adapters, but it came
HTTP Error 404. The requested resource is not found.
So there’s a server there, just not the one that’s supposed to be.
Searching the Lenovo site was fruitless (I swear, web designers seem
to deliberately make site search useless in a lot of cases!). Anyone
got any idea whether they ever made a square tip for this item? The
one I bought was released in 2009 and withdrawn in 2014 (and my
original one is even older), so they may not have, but it would be
nice to remove one of the links from the chain. Having a part number
for the tip would of course be ideal.

[STeve Andre']

I have looked for them and haven't had luck. I've lots of power
supplies in my life from radios, but not the adaptors. I've managed to
scavenge tips from dead new-style power supplies, via friends who given
me theirs.

One caution about cheaper power supplies--quality. Over the past
several years I have seen at least six problems with such supplies dying
after a short period of time, one of them destroying a Dell laptop with
over voltage. It smelled great, to boot.

Remember that a smaller power supply of the same wattage as a bigger one
is going top be hotter. That's physics. In really warm areas that can
matter. It can also erode the lifetime of components, especially
cheaper ones. So while falling costs are nice, there is a dark side to
them. Think of how useful the cheap 3rd party thinkpad usually are.

--STeve Andre'

Post by David Ross
We have one of these (it was even cheaper on Amazon, and free shipping, though they're gone now; I wish I'd bought more than one).
For tip part numbers, you might start with the wayback machine, eg https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__web.archive.org_web_20131005081030_http-3A__www.lenovopowertips.com-3A80_Catalog.aspx-3FCID-3D1&d=DwIF-g&c=nE__W8dFE-shTxStwXtp0A&r=rw5rbAoP0wCJqUe-F2DAWw&m=W1unvFKWCn9YIRn5lZX3p_sUyHkkZpWYqccs-RLnLKg&s=4VQQCtHfUs6O2Ahy5MItG8jYGZrPThmT2z3zTHHdmU8&e=
David R.

Post by Phil Smith III
Lenovo 41R4493 90W Ultraslim AC/DC Combo Adapter
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.ebay.com_itm_182846116226&d=DwIF-g&c=nE__W8dFE-shTxStwXtp0A&r=rw5rbAoP0wCJqUe-F2DAWw&m=W1unvFKWCn9YIRn5lZX3p_sUyHkkZpWYqccs-RLnLKg&s=ZnsexSys2CXgxjoBPkeKxHYRZYj5VzngHgL_vRE6zmQ&e=
on eBay. I actually thought I was replacing my 41R0139 brick, which
has started to hum a bit. These are nicer: smaller yet the same
output, and come with several cords, including a Y-cord that adds a
USB power outlet. If you travel with your ThinkPad, you might like
this unit. And it sure was cheap ($13 plus very reasonable shipping), sealed new in a box.
It predates the square power tips. I have adapters, but it came
HTTP Error 404. The requested resource is not found.
So there’s a server there, just not the one that’s supposed to be.
Searching the Lenovo site was fruitless (I swear, web designers seem
to deliberately make site search useless in a lot of cases!). Anyone
got any idea whether they ever made a square tip for this item? The
one I bought was released in 2009 and withdrawn in 2014 (and my
original one is even older), so they may not have, but it would be
nice to remove one of the links from the chain. Having a part number
for the tip would of course be ideal.

[David Ross]

The power supply that Phil linked to is not "cheap", Lenovo's retail price was around $100. It just happens to be showing up here and there remaindered for a good price. It is also not small, just very flat; its volume looks greater than that of the power bricks that come with newer X series machines.

My son has been using ours on his T410 with no problems, and he's a gamer.

Pretty much all of my genuine Thinkpad power supplies that have failed over the years, both Lenovo and IBM branded, have failed for mechanical reasons, with internal wire breakage issues either at the tip end or at the strain relief end at the power brick case. On a couple of occasions I have gone to the trouble of repairing them, either by cracking the case and putting in a new power line (these are available for practically nothing on the internet) or by splicing a new power line to the old one if the break is near the tip. The latter is especially nice, in that you get a much longer power cable. However, you need to be adequate with a soldering iron, and willing to live with a lump in the middle of the cable where the old and new get spliced together.

David

Post by STeve Andre'
I have looked for them and haven't had luck. I've lots of power
supplies in my life from radios, but not the adaptors. I've managed to
scavenge tips from dead new-style power supplies, via friends who given
me theirs.
One caution about cheaper power supplies--quality. Over the past
several years I have seen at least six problems with such supplies dying
after a short period of time, one of them destroying a Dell laptop with
over voltage. It smelled great, to boot.
Remember that a smaller power supply of the same wattage as a bigger one
is going top be hotter. That's physics. In really warm areas that can
matter. It can also erode the lifetime of components, especially
cheaper ones. So while falling costs are nice, there is a dark side to
them. Think of how useful the cheap 3rd party thinkpad usually are.
--STeve Andre'

Post by David Ross
We have one of these (it was even cheaper on Amazon, and free shipping, though they're gone now; I wish I'd bought more than one).
For tip part numbers, you might start with the wayback machine, eg https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__web.archive.org_web_20131005081030_http-3A__www.lenovopowertips.com-3A80_Catalog.aspx-3FCID-3D1&d=DwIF-g&c=nE__W8dFE-shTxStwXtp0A&r=rw5rbAoP0wCJqUe-F2DAWw&m=W1unvFKWCn9YIRn5lZX3p_sUyHkkZpWYqccs-RLnLKg&s=4VQQCtHfUs6O2Ahy5MItG8jYGZrPThmT2z3zTHHdmU8&e=
David R.

Post by Phil Smith III
Lenovo 41R4493 90W Ultraslim AC/DC Combo Adapter
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.ebay.com_itm_182846116226&d=DwIF-g&c=nE__W8dFE-shTxStwXtp0A&r=rw5rbAoP0wCJqUe-F2DAWw&m=W1unvFKWCn9YIRn5lZX3p_sUyHkkZpWYqccs-RLnLKg&s=ZnsexSys2CXgxjoBPkeKxHYRZYj5VzngHgL_vRE6zmQ&e=
on eBay. I actually thought I was replacing my 41R0139 brick, which
has started to hum a bit. These are nicer: smaller yet the same
output, and come with several cords, including a Y-cord that adds a
USB power outlet. If you travel with your ThinkPad, you might like
this unit. And it sure was cheap ($13 plus very reasonable shipping), sealed new in a box.
It predates the square power tips. I have adapters, but it came
HTTP Error 404. The requested resource is not found.
So there’s a server there, just not the one that’s supposed to be.
Searching the Lenovo site was fruitless (I swear, web designers seem
to deliberately make site search useless in a lot of cases!). Anyone
got any idea whether they ever made a square tip for this item? The
one I bought was released in 2009 and withdrawn in 2014 (and my
original one is even older), so they may not have, but it would be
nice to remove one of the links from the chain. Having a part number
for the tip would of course be ideal.

_______________________________________________
Thinkpad mailing list
http://stderr.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/thinkpad

[STeve Andre']

Sure, the Lenovo are almost always good. I was referring to the
generic, which I see more and more often. My experiences at repairing
them lead me to comment on them in general.

Spent a little more time today to see if I could find tips. No luck yet.

--STeve Andre'

Post by David Ross
The power supply that Phil linked to is not "cheap", Lenovo's retail price was around $100. It just happens to be showing up here and there remaindered for a good price. It is also not small, just very flat; its volume looks greater than that of the power bricks that come with newer X series machines.
My son has been using ours on his T410 with no problems, and he's a gamer.
Pretty much all of my genuine Thinkpad power supplies that have failed over the years, both Lenovo and IBM branded, have failed for mechanical reasons, with internal wire breakage issues either at the tip end or at the strain relief end at the power brick case. On a couple of occasions I have gone to the trouble of repairing them, either by cracking the case and putting in a new power line (these are available for practically nothing on the internet) or by splicing a new power line to the old one if the break is near the tip. The latter is especially nice, in that you get a much longer power cable. However, you need to be adequate with a soldering iron, and willing to live with a lump in the middle of the cable where the old and new get spliced together.
David

Post by STeve Andre'
I have looked for them and haven't had luck. I've lots of power
supplies in my life from radios, but not the adaptors. I've managed to
scavenge tips from dead new-style power supplies, via friends who given
me theirs.
One caution about cheaper power supplies--quality. Over the past
several years I have seen at least six problems with such supplies dying
after a short period of time, one of them destroying a Dell laptop with
over voltage. It smelled great, to boot.
Remember that a smaller power supply of the same wattage as a bigger one
is going top be hotter. That's physics. In really warm areas that can
matter. It can also erode the lifetime of components, especially
cheaper ones. So while falling costs are nice, there is a dark side to
them. Think of how useful the cheap 3rd party thinkpad usually are.
--STeve Andre'

Post by David Ross
We have one of these (it was even cheaper on Amazon, and free shipping, though they're gone now; I wish I'd bought more than one).
For tip part numbers, you might start with the wayback machine, eg https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__web.archive.org_web_20131005081030_http-3A__www.lenovopowertips.com-3A80_Catalog.aspx-3FCID-3D1&d=DwIF-g&c=nE__W8dFE-shTxStwXtp0A&r=rw5rbAoP0wCJqUe-F2DAWw&m=W1unvFKWCn9YIRn5lZX3p_sUyHkkZpWYqccs-RLnLKg&s=4VQQCtHfUs6O2Ahy5MItG8jYGZrPThmT2z3zTHHdmU8&e=
David R.

Post by Phil Smith III
Lenovo 41R4493 90W Ultraslim AC/DC Combo Adapter
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.ebay.com_itm_182846116226&d=DwIF-g&c=nE__W8dFE-shTxStwXtp0A&r=rw5rbAoP0wCJqUe-F2DAWw&m=W1unvFKWCn9YIRn5lZX3p_sUyHkkZpWYqccs-RLnLKg&s=ZnsexSys2CXgxjoBPkeKxHYRZYj5VzngHgL_vRE6zmQ&e=
on eBay. I actually thought I was replacing my 41R0139 brick, which
has started to hum a bit. These are nicer: smaller yet the same
output, and come with several cords, including a Y-cord that adds a
USB power outlet. If you travel with your ThinkPad, you might like
this unit. And it sure was cheap ($13 plus very reasonable shipping), sealed new in a box.
It predates the square power tips. I have adapters, but it came
HTTP Error 404. The requested resource is not found.
So there’s a server there, just not the one that’s supposed to be.
Searching the Lenovo site was fruitless (I swear, web designers seem
to deliberately make site search useless in a lot of cases!). Anyone
got any idea whether they ever made a square tip for this item? The
one I bought was released in 2009 and withdrawn in 2014 (and my
original one is even older), so they may not have, but it would be
nice to remove one of the links from the chain. Having a part number
for the tip would of course be ideal.

_______________________________________________
Thinkpad mailing list
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__stderr.org_cgi-2Dbin_mailman_listinfo_thinkpad&d=DwIF-g&c=nE__W8dFE-shTxStwXtp0A&r=rw5rbAoP0wCJqUe-F2DAWw&m=DdAbyguaQ0r1Ry2v3AAW6bmXAPrNt5gs0W6kX-q9myI&s=rs5UN4re0Y-hLmMIPeaHQ4SwhMPyBzf8-Xv_GDyDOCE&e=

[David Ross]

Hi Steve,

Post by STeve Andre'
Sure, the Lenovo are almost always good. I was referring to the
generic, which I see more and more often.

I wouldn't trust a generic power brick under any circumstances; I like my house too much, would hate to see it burned down. Genuine-but-NOS supplies are pretty cheap and widely available.

(That said, I used to feel the same about generic batteries, but I have a generic in my X201t right now that has impressed me so far. The cells report that they are Panasonic and the power retention is better after several months than the NOS battery it replaced at the same stage of life.)

[STeve Andre']

hi David--


"like my house too much" -- I giggled 'till I remembered reading about
someone who burned their house down -- not funny, true.

I know that off-brand batteries *can* be good. About 2005 I bought one
for a user which worked for 5 years. But I didn't make good enough
notes to know who it was! arggg

Hmmm. For those who are reading this, have you had good experiences
with non-Lenovo batteries? What models of thinkpads? What companies?
I'd love to be proven wrong about them.

--STeve Andre'

Post by David Ross
Hi Steve,

Post by STeve Andre'
Sure, the Lenovo are almost always good. I was referring to the
generic, which I see more and more often.

I wouldn't trust a generic power brick under any circumstances; I like my house too much, would hate to see it burned down. Genuine-but-NOS supplies are pretty cheap and widely available.
(That said, I used to feel the same about generic batteries, but I have a generic in my X201t right now that has impressed me so far. The cells report that they are Panasonic and the power retention is better after several months than the NOS battery it replaced at the same stage of life.)

[David Ross]

Post by STeve Andre'
Hmmm. For those who are reading this, have you had good experiences
with non-Lenovo batteries? What models of thinkpads? What companies?
I'd love to be proven wrong about them.

The one I mentioned was from these guys: https://www.cbkelectronics.com/ (for my X201t).
I bought the battery in June, it still charges to near-original capacity. If it stays above 80% though next June it will have beaten most genuine batteries I've owned.

[J***@verizon.net]

Steve.

I'm not familiar with any Thinkpad that uses a square power connecter. What
model are we discussing? There are adapters available that allow you to use
a late model T series charger with a Carbon or similar machine with the
rectangular charger plug.

-----Original Message-----
From: thinkpad-***@stderr.org [mailto:thinkpad-***@stderr.org] On
Behalf Of STeve Andre'
Sent: Thursday, December 28, 2017 5:09 PM
To: ***@stderr.org
Subject: Re: [Thinkpad] Power tips?

Sure, the Lenovo are almost always good. I was referring to the generic,
which I see more and more often. My experiences at repairing them lead me
to comment on them in general.

Spent a little more time today to see if I could find tips. No luck yet.

--STeve Andre'




---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus

[Phil Smith III]

Thanks! That got me a part number or two, but they're all either
discontinued or crazy-expenseive (like $79.95 *for a tip*; be serious...)

So I guess I'll stick with what I have. I always wonder about (a) why
companies create these other domains and (b) why they let them lapse without
any redirection. Not tricky to handle cleanly...

-----Original Message-----
From: David Ross [mailto:***@math.hawaii.edu]
Sent: Wednesday, December 27, 2017 5:09 PM
To: Phil Smith III <***@akphs.com>; ***@stderr.org
Subject: Re: [Thinkpad] Power tips?

We have one of these (it was even cheaper on Amazon, and free shipping,
though they're gone now; I wish I'd bought more than one).

For tip part numbers, you might start with the wayback machine, eg
http://web.archive.org/web/20131005081030/http://www.lenovopowertips.com:80/
Catalog.aspx?CID=1

David R.

Post by Phil Smith III
Lenovo 41R4493 90W Ultraslim AC/DC Combo Adapter
https://www.ebay.com/itm/182846116226
on eBay. I actually thought I was replacing my 41R0139 brick, which
has started to hum a bit. These are nicer: smaller yet the same
output, and come with several cords, including a Y-cord that adds a
USB power outlet. If you travel with your ThinkPad, you might like
this unit. And it sure was cheap ($13 plus very reasonable shipping),

sealed new in a box.

Post by Phil Smith III
It predates the square power tips. I have adapters, but it came
with a leaflet touting www.lenovopowertips.com, and I thought "Maybe they
HTTP Error 404. The requested resource is not found.
So there's a server there, just not the one that's supposed to be.
Searching the Lenovo site was fruitless (I swear, web designers seem
to deliberately make site search useless in a lot of cases!). Anyone
got any idea whether they ever made a square tip for this item? The
one I bought was released in 2009 and withdrawn in 2014 (and my
original one is even older), so they may not have, but it would be
nice to remove one of the links from the chain. Having a part number
for the tip would of course be ideal.

[Jason Cerovac]

No idea if they made the square tips... I only just got my first ThinkPad
with a square adapter (my personal laptop is a W530, which is round; and
my new work laptop is a P50, with the square tip).

I used to have this exact adapter, though; when I had my T61p. I gifted
that laptop to a friend, who is still running Ubuntu on it, with the same
adapter, and still going strong...

On Wed, December 27, 2017 21:51, Phil Smith III wrote:
: I just bought two of these:
:
: Lenovo 41R4493 90W Ultraslim AC/DC Combo Adapter
:
: https://www.ebay.com/itm/182846116226
:
: on eBay. I actually thought I was replacing my 41R0139 brick, which has
: started to hum a bit. These are nicer: smaller yet the same output, and
: come
: with several cords, including a Y-cord that adds a USB power outlet. If
: you
: travel with your ThinkPad, you might like this unit. And it sure was cheap
: ($13 plus very reasonable shipping), sealed new in a box.
:
:
:
: It predates the square power tips. I have adapters, but it came with a
: leaflet touting www.lenovopowertips.com <http://www.lenovopowertips.com> ,
: and I thought "Maybe they have one!" so I visited it:
:
: HTTP Error 404. The requested resource is not found.
:
: So there's a server there, just not the one that's supposed to be.
: Searching
: the Lenovo site was fruitless (I swear, web designers seem to deliberately
: make site search useless in a lot of cases!). Anyone got any idea whether
: they ever made a square tip for this item? The one I bought was released
: in
: 2009 and withdrawn in 2014 (and my original one is even older), so they
: may
: not have, but it would be nice to remove one of the links from the chain.
: Having a part number for the tip would of course be ideal.
:
: _______________________________________________
: Thinkpad mailing list
: ***@stderr.org
: http://stderr.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/thinkpad
:

[Jeffrey Race]

Batteries for 600X, T30, T43 and T60?
I'm still using all of these
Jeffrey Race

Post by David Ross

Post by STeve Andre'
Hmmm. For those who are reading this, have you had good experiences
with non-Lenovo batteries? What models of thinkpads? What companies?
I'd love to be proven wrong about them.

The one I mentioned was from these guys: https://www.cbkelectronics.com/ (for my X201t).
I bought the battery in June, it still charges to near-original capacity. If it stays above 80% though next June it will have beaten most genuine batteries I've owned.
--
Prof. David A. Ross
Dept. of Mathematics, University of Hawaii
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